Beside the river that yellow board says, Dangerous Zone of River, entry to the river is strictly prohibited. A caution board erected by Water Authority near Thenmala besides the Kallada river. Last time when i passed through this place the river was full and water level was upto the sand near the caution board.

The river was flowing much calm, filled up with green water that time, and anyone seeing this place will wonder why is such a board placed near a calm slow flowing river like this.The river may appear swimmable and ideal for some water fun. But this time as the river is empty due to the closure of dam shutters i came to know why such a danger caution is given here. Anyone watching the empty river bed will know how dangerous the traps formed of those huge rocks can be to anyone going into the river even if the water level is moderate. Giving you a few picture snaps of the rocky river bed below.

Hope you wont prefer to swim and play in a river having rocks underneath like this. We can't predict the nature of under currents of the river when the river is in its full fledge with a raised water level. Even a good swimmer won't be able to resist the power of nature and ofcourse the rock traps underneath this river bed. This is just a part of the empty- rock filled river terrain and the rock surfaces are relatively smooth here.

Going forward from here through the course of the river you can see huge rocks, deep pits and narrow slits between the rocks which can easily trap a person of much expertise in swimming. Due to random obstructions and much uneven river bed, underneath currents can be much vigorous. Hope as a tourist you won't like getting carried away by a violent river current through such an uneven river course. Seems it's dangerous for even water sports like Rafting and Kayaking which demands rock filled whitewater river terrains, due to sharp edged huge river rocks seen here.

The rocks found here are of mixed nature ranging from sedimentary rocks. Some of the rocks and stones on the river bed are seen smoothly polished by the hard river currents. Some of the rocks are weired in shape and many of them appears like puzzle pieces with rocks.

There are huge gaps between the rocks as seen in the pictures and well cut blade like rock edges. You can see rocks and rocks only through the entire river course coming under your eye's range from here. Even without water these rocks can turnout to be dangerous if we won't watch the steps. The river was not completely empty due to the small mountain streams that joins this main river stream of Kallada downstream the Thenmala dam which is closed entirely for maintainance works. This place is beside the highway just before the Weir dam or water level maintaining dam of KIP built at Ottalkkal lookout point when coming from Kollam towards Thenmala.

The river takes a deviation at this point for it's weak to flow straight with much lower level of water through such an uneven rocky terrain. Here the rocks appeared small and more polished through the natural weathering process done by river currents.

There was much and many potholes within the rocks found here. This photo is taken standing over the rocks seen in the previous photo. The sides are covered by typical tropical vegetation seen throughout the western ghats. Seeing the river understood that no one places a danger caution board just for fun.

Apart from rocks the river base is filled with sediments big logs of timber moderate tree branches immersed in the sand etc. More snaps through the river course is gonna be published soon. The river seems can be made usable for rafting and kayaking with a little changes done in the course and adequate water flow maintained from the dam. But not yet seems thought of. May be the inconsistent flow of tourists, lower popularity of adventurous water sports in Kerala, difficulty to maintain the water levels etc could be the reasons. Anyway the river and water projects built here are mainly focussed in to irrigation dam project cum hydro electric projects at present.

The photos are part of a road trip done to Thenmala and Palaruvi waterfalls in Kollam district of Kerala / India. You may not be able to see the river like this without water by the time you plan to visit Thenmala. It depends on the decision of authorities to keep the Thenmala Parappar dam shutter opened or closed. In summer seasons the river is seen full as its the time the crops are needed to be irrigated and the dam shutters are kept opened as needed. More photos and info on tourist spots of Kerala is going to be published soon here in pixelshots.

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